Potholes to noisy phones: Thinking small gives UK’s Burnham some early wins

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Rather than starting on the big issues facing Britain, the prime minister is concentrating on smaller problems and more achievable solutions.

Britain’s new prime minister talked big on his way into No. 10 Downing St., promising nothing less than an overhaul of four decades of national political and economic policy.

But in his first 100 days, Andy Burnham has been doing something very different.

He’s been thinking small. He’s been talking less about fixing Britain’s sluggish economy than about filling the potholes on its roads.

Britain’s prime minister has vowed to tackle the country’s biggest issues over time. But for now, he’s concentrating on smaller problems, in the hope of restoring voters’ trust in government and easing some of their day-to-day concerns.

The reason he’s taken that approach has implications for other Western democracies where, as in Britain, many voters have lost trust in government institutions and mainstream parties, and have been gravitating toward populist politicians on the political extremes.

And the United States, too, where last week’s midterm elections have presented new Democratic majorities in Congress with “first 100 days” policy choices of their own.

Speaking outside Downing Street in July, he issued his first “instruction” as prime minister: “to end rough sleeping in our country.” Or, in American English, to provide the support necessary to put a roof over the heads of homeless people sleeping on city streets.

The aim of this and a raft of similar announcements has been to reconnect the national government with the day-to-day concerns, and aggravations, of voters. To demonstrate that they had been seen and heard, and that their prime minister was on their side.

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